Amy Lu's View

“I haven’t heard you yet, but I think you’re great.”

–Bella, young fan/potential fan of our band

Wow. That statement conveys such optimism, such possibility, such encouragement. It was proclaimed by Bella, a girl of about eight who lives in the neighborhood where our band, Pigeons From Hell, practices in our lead guitarist’s garage. 

Imagine living in a world where more people were inclined to think things were awesome without any evidence. 

Wait, yeah, we can probably think of many examples of that NOT working out so well, but let’s try to think of it as the enthusiasm and openness of a kid, not the uniformed fawning of an adult. 

Bella connected with us as we were packing up our gear after practice (okay, John, Chad and Mike were packing up, I just had to grab my recyclables) because her cousin had been listening to us and called her over. 

Bella’s cousin (we didn’t catch his name so let’s go with Dylan), about 12 years old, DID hear us play and had actually been listening to us for quite a while, as he was riding his bike up and down the alley. 

As I watched him riding back and forth while we were practicing, I thought, “Wow, that kid must be really bored.” But then Dylan shouted “you’re really good” and eventually stopped to talk to us after we were done. He enthusiastically explained that he was in fact intentionally riding up and down the alley so he could listen to us. 

It’s hard not to wonder if Dylan was paid by someone to come and boost our egos. Instead of a singing telegram, we had a cycling fanagram–a pre-teen on a bike to come and praise us.

Dylan told us that he was from San Diego and was visiting his cousins, and that our music sounded like what they play in California. He asked about how long we had been playing (eight years?, with many different lineups), where and when we play (nowadays, usually in Mike’s garage, sometime on the weekend), and what our band name was.

He said our name was so cool that he was going to name his kid (presumably of the future) “Pigeons From Hell.” Well, it’s a gender neutral name and they can call the kid “PFH” as a nickname. (We did try to explain that “Pigeons From Hell” is a song lyric from “Back on the Chain Gang” by The Pretenders, led by Chrissie Hynde. I hope he followed through on Googling it).

Our band mate John said the interaction made his day. Absolutely. It probably made my week (and this is not because I’m expecting a crappy week.)

I blogged last fall about a great encounter we had with some unexpected fans who randomly heard us practicing (https://amyluedtke.wordpress.com/2021/09/19/garage-band/), and I’m thrilled to be able to add to the “compliments we get from strangers while practicing in the garage” series. There’s the connection, and the affirmation, and if I’m bold enough to think it–the inspiration. 

Especially with and from and for Bella and Dylan. I don’t have many memories of seeing adults doing things that seemed cool and just for fun when I was a kid. I hope it’s beneficial for them to see that with a bunch of strangers they happen across, even if they do have other areas in their lives when they see adults just playing and having fun. 

I am certainly inspired by Dylan and Bella. Yes, I’m inspired by and excited to have fans of any age under (almost) any circumstance, and there is something inherently special about having kids look up to you. I’m also inspired by their enthusiasm, and their willingness to share that enthusiasm with some old people they just happened to encounter in an alley. 

And Bella may be on to something…it might be easier to think our band is great before you actually heard us.